I'd looked at some wall-mounted organizers online, but everything cost a lot more than I was willing to shell out. So I devised my own by gluing a scrap of window screening to the back of an old 11-by-17-inch picture frame, spray-painted black.

Earrings with plain hooks fit right through the screen holes, and I repurposed some Christmas ornament hooks for hanging my lever-back and hoop earrings. I can even hang post earrings by pulling the bottom of the organizer away from the wall a little bit to give me access to attach the earring backs.

Now my earrings are no longer in a tangle in a basket. Instead, they decorate my wall when they're not decorating my ears.

A fireplace warms up a room in winter, but once the weather warms, it’s just a black hole.

Interior designer and TV personality Libby Langdon suggests a way to make it a focal point during the off season, too. She recommends having a mirror cut to size and placing it in front of the fireplace opening. In front of the mirror, create an arrangement of hurricane vases with candles inside, coral, seashells and smaller votive candles.

New energy-efficiency standards for residential clothes washers and dishwashers were announced today by the U.S. Energy Department.

Under the new rules, front-loading clothes washers will use 15 percent less energy and 35 percent less water. Top-loading clothes washers will use 33 percent less energy and 19 percent less water. For dishwashers, the savings will be about 15 percent on energy and more than 20 percent on water.

At last we're getting a standard-shape LED bulb that's bright enough for most home uses.

GE announced today that an LED replacement for the 100-watt incandescent bulb will reach store shelves early next year. Its 27-watt Energy Smart LED bulb, developed at Nela Park in East Cleveland, will be introduced this week at the Lightfair International trade show in Las Vegas.